[0:00] Welcome to our services today and as we come together around the Word of God, let us seek his blessing to be upon his Word. Let us pray.
[0:13] Eternal and ever-blessed Lord, grant to us that we would be able to see the great privilege that is ours today when we can come together in this act of worship around thine own Word.
[0:34] And we pray that as we read thy Word and as we come to meditate upon thy Word, that thy Holy Spirit would apply thy Word to our hearts so that it may bring forth fruit in our lives.
[0:53] We acknowledge, O Lord, that we are dependent upon thee, for without thee we can do nothing. And so we come acknowledging our sinnership, acknowledging, O Lord, that we sin daily in thought, in word and in deed.
[1:15] But blessed be thy name for the provision that thou hast made for us in and through thy Son. Reminding us, O Lord, that we are not saved or delivered from the bondage and slavery of sin through our own works, but through the righteousness that there is in Jesus Christ.
[1:40] We give thee thanks, O Lord, that when we were in a helpless and hopeless condition through the fall of our first parents, that thou did intervene and that thou hast provided a righteousness for us through thy Son, that meets thine own justice, and that can be imputed to us through faith, so that we can have a standing before a holy God, a God to us of purer eye than to look upon sin.
[2:20] O we give thee thanks, O Lord, that that righteousness is being proclaimed today through the gospel. And so we pray that thou would enlighten the understanding of our people, that thou would draw near to them that they may come to see their great need as sinners, and the sufficiency of the provision that thou hast made in and through thy Son to meet with that need.
[2:53] That our salvation is not in our own works or by our own merits, but that it is totally through faith in Jesus Christ, that it is Christ that saves.
[3:09] O we pray, O Lord, that we would humble ourselves and acknowledge our great indebtedness to thee, for that thou did in thy mercy and in thy grace intervene into the lives of sinners, and that thou, O Lord, delighteth in mercy, that judgment is a strange work unto thee.
[3:37] We pray, O Lord, that thou would bless our homes and our families, that thou would bless our communities.
[3:48] O may thou come on a day of thy power, and may thou work among our people, bringing days of revival into thy church, and days of awakening among those who are still dead in trespasses and in sin.
[4:06] O that thou wouldst stop their ears, O that thou wouldst stop their ears, that they may hear the joyful sound, the sound that bringeth deliverance, that bringeth freedom from the bondage and slavery of sin.
[4:22] O we pray that their ears may be opened, and that their hearts, O Lord, may be opened to the gospel, that they would come unto thee and seek thy salvation, that they may come to experience thy salvation, and the joy of thy salvation.
[4:46] We give thee thanks, O Lord, for thy protection over us as communities and islands in these days, against the virus that is causing so much devastation in other places in our land.
[5:04] We pray, Lord, for those who have been affected by the virus, and we pray that thine healing hand may be upon them. We remember those whose lives have been touched and devastated by the removal of their loved ones through this virus.
[5:22] We ask, O Lord, that thou would meet with them at their point of need. We remember all those who today have broken hearts, those whose lives have been touched by the voice of death.
[5:39] O Lord, we pray that thine own comfort would be their portion, that I would grant to them, O Lord, that they may see how fragile life is, that we are like the grass that grows in the field, and the flower of the grass that grows in the field, for over the wind doth pass, and it away is gone.
[6:08] But we give thee thanks, O Lord, that we can have that victory over death and the grave through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:19] And we pray, O Lord, that many would be drawn by thy Spirit to see their great need of that salvation that is offered to them through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:34] We give thee thanks, O Lord, for his work, that he is thine own provision for us. And we pray that we would not reject that provision, but that we would embrace it by faith, that we would receive that salvation, that we would come to know the security that there is in Christ, that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
[7:04] We ask, O Lord, that thou would continue with us for the moments that we are here gathered together in this manner today around thine own word.
[7:15] O Lord, that thy blessing would rest upon each and every one of us, that we may, O Lord, come to wait upon thee.
[7:26] For it is a blessed thing to wait upon the Lord. We pray for all gatherings of thy people today, where they gather around thy word, and thy servants who proclaim thy truth to them.
[7:41] O that thine own blessing would be upon them, and that the Spirit would take thy word and apply it to the hearts of people in all places, even unto the ends of the earth.
[7:57] We ask, O Lord, that thou would continue with us now as we come to wait upon thee, seeking the forgiveness for all our sins and for all our shortcomings.
[8:08] In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. Let us now read the word of God as we find it in the New Testament in the book of Galatians and chapter 3.
[8:25] O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
[8:37] Thus only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
[8:53] Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? He therefore administereth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth ye it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith.
[9:10] Even as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham.
[9:22] And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the faith and true faith preached before the Gospel and to Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.
[9:34] So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
[9:52] But that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.
[10:08] Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, been made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
[10:27] Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant, yet, if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth it or addeth thereto.
[10:43] Now to Abraham, and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
[10:55] And this I say, that the covenant that was conferred before God, of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after Canaanite's annul, that it should not make the promises of none effect.
[11:11] For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then is there with the law? It was added because of transgression, that the seed should come to whom the promise was made.
[11:27] And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now the mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God?
[11:40] God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
[11:58] But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
[12:13] But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ.
[12:28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
[12:45] May the Lord bless unto us the reading of that portion of his word. Let us now turn to Paul's letter to the Romans and chapter 3 and we'll take up our reading at verse 24.
[13:01] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of whom which believeth in Jesus.
[13:29] Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
[13:42] Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith, do we then make void the law through faith?
[13:59] God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. And this morning with the Lord's help we shall meditate on these verses.
[14:12] Paul writes being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, as we saw last week we are all sinners and as sinners we are lawbreakers we have broken and do break the law of God.
[14:32] Therefore, as lawbreakers of the law of God we are under the condemnation and curse of the law and hence we have to be punished. No man is able to keep the law therefore we are opened and naked and deserve to be punished.
[14:50] we need a righteousness that can satisfy God's justice. As we saw last week Paul lays emphasis in this chapter that this righteousness that we need is provided by God.
[15:09] God has provided our righteousness. He had promised it before but now he has revealed it. it is God himself who has provided this righteousness or this way of salvation.
[15:25] He has provided this righteousness through his son the Lord Jesus Christ. God in his infinite wisdom and goodness made a way by which he can justify us.
[15:41] We were all involved in guilt. None of us could plead not guilty. and being guilty we lay under a sentence of death. Now that the judge himself should find a way to justify us this should fill us with wonder and with love.
[16:02] The angels admire the mystery of free grace in this new way of justifying and saving lost men and should not we because it concerns us.
[16:17] Should we not truly admire the mystery of free grace? We are the ones who benefit from it.
[16:29] Therefore should we not cry out with the apostle oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. God. What Paul brings before us here is the doctrine of justification.
[16:49] Thomas Watson says justification is the very hinge and pillar of Christianity. An error about justification is dangerous like a defect in a foundation.
[17:02] justification by Christ is a spring of the water of life. Now justification is a word borrowed from law courts.
[17:18] It is a legal term. It is a legal act. It is a declaration made by a judge that a person is innocent and can be set free.
[17:29] being justified is a declaration made by God the judge of all the earth.
[17:41] It means that we are declared righteous by God. It does not mean that we are made righteous but rather that God regards us as righteous and declares us to be righteous.
[17:57] This has often been a difficult to many people but let us hear how our catechism puts it. Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.
[18:25] justification is not done by us but it is done for us and that by someone else.
[18:38] It is God that justifies therefore who can condemn. Justification is an act of God done once never to be repeated.
[18:50] It is not continuous or something that can be improved over time. The saints in glory are not any more justified than me and you here on earth today.
[19:04] They are more perfect and sanctified but not any more justified. And we may ask why is this doctrine so important for us?
[19:17] Well sometimes believers because they are conscious of indwelling sin may conclude that they cannot be in a justified state. This shows immediately that they have no proper understanding of this doctrine of justification.
[19:37] Justification makes no actual change in us. It is a declaration by God concerning us.
[19:47] God tells us that justification comes to us freely and by grace. Being justified freely by his grace.
[20:00] grace. What is meant by grace? Well grace means the unmerited favour or kindness shown to one who is utterly undeserving.
[20:16] Saving grace arises solely from the love of God without anything whatsoever in us to produce it. It is entirely of God.
[20:32] So Paul says that on our part it is freely and by God's grace without any contribution whatsoever from us.
[20:46] What is it that makes all this possible? On what grounds does God do this? How can God justify the sinner? How can he declare the sinner to be righteous?
[21:00] Paul's answer through or by means of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It is important for us to remember that although this righteousness is given to us freely it does not happen merely as a result of a statement made by God.
[21:23] It is not like it was with creation. In the matter of creation God merely had to make a statement. He said let there be light and there was light. But justification is not possible in that way.
[21:38] Because of God's eternal justice and righteousness something else had to happen before God could declare us as justified.
[21:50] As Paul here explains in these words through or by means of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This righteousness is ours freely.
[22:04] It is a declaration made by God towards us. However, for that statement or declaration to be made, something else had to happen.
[22:19] And here Paul explains it by saying that it is true or by means of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Let us look more closely at this word redemption.
[22:35] It means deliverance by the payment of a ransom. A thing is redeemed by the payment of a stipulated price. This is illustrated for us in the Old Testament for instance.
[22:48] If a man had become a slave as a result of being captured or conquered by another, his nearest kinsman could redeem that person as long as the kinsman was able to pay the required price.
[23:05] So, it is a term that is used for setting a slave free. This immediately reminds us that although we have been justified freely and by his grace, there was a cost.
[23:18] There was a ransom price that had to be paid. And we could not pay the ransom price. As the psalmist says to us, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for her.
[23:38] How did God redeem us? He redeemed us through or by his son. The apostle, in writing to Timothy, says of Christ, who gave himself a ransom for all.
[23:56] Again, writing to Titus, he says, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, sellers of good works.
[24:09] Jesus himself told his followers, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give us life, a ransom for many.
[24:48] Here we are told that Christ has redeemed us by paying the ransom price. Paul says to believers, you are not your own, for you have bought with a price.
[25:03] This word redemption means release as a result of the payment of a price. And as we have noted, the truth about us all is that we are not able to pay the advocate's price.
[25:18] But thank God, another has come and paid the price for us. Paul describes this redemption as that it is in Christ Jesus.
[25:31] Here we have the great idea of substitution and other standing on our behalf. All the glory must go to Christ.
[25:44] It is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ that has made all the difference. His perfect obedience to the law. His paying the price of the ransom.
[25:56] It is he who made redemption possible. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to tell us about the love of God. Of course he does that.
[26:07] But it is actual coming and living and dying and rising again that provides the payment of the price that was essential for our deliverance, for our redemption, for our justification.
[26:24] His coming and teaching alone could not have saved us. We had to be ransomed and he ransomed us of the cross of Golgotha.
[26:38] Verse 25 elaborates more upon the ransom price. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that had passed through the forbearance of God.
[26:57] Paul is now going to describe this redemption which he has already told us. The redemption that the gospel announces and declares in Jesus Christ.
[27:09] Now as we look at this verse, the first thing that is important is this, whom God hath set forth. This is the way that Paul describes the cross of Golgotha.
[27:21] God was there setting forth or making a public declaration by what happened on the cross. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross was not an accident.
[27:35] It was God's work. What exactly happened on the cross? What is the meaning of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross?
[27:49] Well the answer is given in this verse and to be found in two words, propitiation and blood. The word propitiation means to appease or to avert wrath.
[28:04] The word propitiation is also to be found in 1 John chapter 2 where it says, and he is the propitiation for our sins.
[28:15] And also in 1 John chapter 4 where we read here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
[28:30] Now the word that Paul uses here, which is translated propitiation, although it is not the same root word and belongs, although it is the same root word, I should say, and belongs to the same family, it is not quite identical with the word that John uses.
[28:51] The word that Paul used here, which is translated propitiation, is exactly the same word which we find in Hebrews 9 verse 5, which is translated as mercy seat.
[29:03] However, we must agree with a vast number of people who accept that it should be translated propitiation, or as we have it in our Gaelic Bibles, propitiatory sacrifice.
[29:17] What Paul is teaching here is that what our Lord did by his death upon the cross was to appease God's wrath. What Jesus did on the cross involved God's wrath.
[29:37] In what sense, we can ask, is the Lord Jesus Christ, this propitiatory sacrifice? And the answer is his blood. In Ephesians 1 verse 7, we are told that we have been redeemed through or by his blood.
[29:55] Now, we may ask, why did the apostle not say his death? The apostle uses this term in blood often when he is referring to our salvation.
[30:08] The writer to the Hebrews, in chapter 9, says, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
[30:23] Peter tells us that we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The apostle John reminds us that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth from all sin.
[30:35] Even among the glorified spirits, references made to the blood of Christ. For we read in the book of Revelation that they sing unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
[30:52] The significance of using this word blood is that he is taking us back to the Old Testament and again he is taking us back to sacrificial language.
[31:03] The Old Testament was saturated by the pouring and sprinkling of blood. So he is reminding us or showing us that the death of Jesus on the cross was sacrificial.
[31:18] It was a sacrificial death. The tearing blood in the Bible means life laid down in death. It is the final proof of the fact that death has been accomplished.
[31:33] we are sinners. We are lawbreakers. And all lawbreakers are under the condemnation of the law and deserve to be punished.
[31:45] And we cannot justify ourselves in the sight of God. We cannot provide a righteousness that will satisfy God's justice. And here is a marvel of God's grace and God's love and God's mercy that he intervened and he has himself provided a righteousness by which we can be justified in his presence, by which we can be declared righteous.
[32:13] And he has provided this righteousness through his son, Jesus Christ. The event of Golgotha and the cross was to declare his righteousness, as verse 26 says to us.
[32:33] To declare his righteousness for this remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
[33:02] Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
[33:13] To manifest his righteousness. Now, this righteousness that he is speaking of here in verse 25 is not the one that God gives to us that we have mentioned of in verse 21 and verse 22.
[33:33] The righteousness that he speaks of here in verse 25 is his righteousness. It is the righteousness that belongs to him. God is declaring his own righteousness, his own righteous character.
[33:49] character. He is declaring his righteous character for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. For the remission of sins that are passed.
[34:01] The word for here means in respect of. So, he is declaring his righteousness in respect of the remission of sins that are passed.
[34:13] The word translated in our version here as remission is actually a word that means to pass over. This is how the new King James puts it. To demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.
[34:35] Does that mean that my past sins and you'd pass sins? Well, you see, Paul here is referring to a specific time. he had passed over former sins.
[34:49] What Paul is doing here is he's looking back at the Old Testament times and the sins of the Old Testament saints. And his point is that God passed over the sins of Old Testament saints.
[35:03] He has done that and now he has said forth Christ to do something about what he did then. He passed over the sins of the Old Testament saints in his forbearance or in his self restraint or tolerance.
[35:22] What Paul is telling us is that this public act which God enacted on Golgotha has reference also to God's action under the Old Testament when he passed over or passed by the sins of the people at that time in a self restraint or tolerance.
[35:45] Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15 is saying the same thing as Paul is saying here. And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
[36:05] You see there was no real sacrifice under the Old Testament that deal with sin. All that they did was to point forward to this sacrifice that was coming and that could really deal with sin.
[36:25] You may ask were the saints of the Old Testament forgiven? Of course they were forgiven. But they were not forgiven because of those sacrifices that they offered.
[36:37] They were forgiven because they looked to Christ. They did not see this clearly but they believed the teaching and they made their offerings by faith.
[36:52] They believed God's word that he was one day going to provide a sacrifice and in faith they held to that.
[37:04] It was their faith in Christ that saved them exactly as it is faith in Christ that saves now. And the cross declares that God is just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
[37:23] They looked forward to Golgotha. Their faith looked forward to Golgotha the same way as our faith looks back to Golgotha.
[37:37] it was all centred on the event of Golgotha. It was all centred on the cross of Golgotha on the person of God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
[37:58] Paul shows that the atonement not only provides for the justification of the sinner but also demonstrates that God is just throughout this whole process.
[38:13] That because of what took place on the cross of Golgotha that God is just in justifying the sinner who believes in Jesus.
[38:27] it also shows how God has dealt with the sins of the Old Testament saints. Their sins, my sins, your sins, the sins of the New Testament saints were all dealt with at the cross of Golgotha in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[38:54] James Denny in his book on the death of Christ writes there can be no gospel unless there is such a thing as our righteousness of God for the ungodly.
[39:12] But just as little can there be any gospel unless the integrity of God's character be maintained. The problem of the sinful world, the problem of all religion, the problem of God in dealing with a sinful race is how to unite these two things.
[39:34] How can there be a righteousness of God for the ungodly? And how can the integrity of God's character be maintained? And the answer to that problem is given by Paul in the words Jesus Christ whom God set forth as a propitiation in his blood.
[40:00] In his blood. Oh my dear friend, what was happening on the cross of Golgotha is a wonderful thing.
[40:19] No other event in this world has been more wonderful than the event that took place over 2000 years ago at the cross of Golgotha outside the city of Jerusalem.
[40:39] And you know that the event involves me and you. What are we going to do? How do we take the event that happened there on the cross of Golgotha?
[40:55] Do we accept it or reject it? Do we see our need of what took place there at the cross of Golgotha?
[41:06] Do we see the grace and the mercy and the love of God in what took place there at Golgotha? We are sinners we are under the curse of God we are under the curse of the law we are under the condemnation of the law but God in his grace and in his mercy gave the son of his own bosom his beloved son and he gave him as the ransom price for my deliverance and your deliverance from the bondage and slavery and the punishment that our sins deserve he paid the ransom price and now in the gospel he offers that righteousness to you freely a righteousness that can be imputed to us by faith what a gracious act that is been justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
[42:22] Christ Jesus whom God hath said forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus now time has gone and we have to leave it there this morning and we'll take this matter again up in the evening let us pray we pray oh
[45:07] Lord that thou will continue with us and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more Amen Amen